Do you like horror games? Why?

[Bauul]

I can't believe we've gotten this far into the thread and no-one has mentioned Alien Isolation! Surely the AAA pinacle of Amnesia clones (if we're going to call them that)?

 

Although I heard Resident Evil 7 also does a pretty good job, although I've not played it.

 

I both love and can't play games like this. I find them waaaay too scary but I adore the genre. I've watched YouTube play throughs of most (including all the FNAF titles. I really like the story and lore behind that one), but I bought Alien Isolation mostly to try to support the devs finally doing a proper Alien game. 

 

I can't get more than 60 minutes into it without wimping out though. The Alien is terrifying.

[KVELLER]

It seems like horror games at this point are something like CoD. There's nothing objectively wrong with them, but they've done the same thing countless times already.

[KVELLER]

Just now, Bauul said:

I can't believe we've gotten this far into the thread and no-one has mentioned Alien Isolation! Surely the AAA pinacle of Amnesia clones (if we're going to call them that)?

 

Although I heard Resident Evil 7 also does a pretty good job, although I've not played it.

 

I both love and can't play games like this. I find them waaaay too scary but I adore the genre. I've watched YouTube play throughs of most (including all the FNAF titles. I really like the story and lore behind that one), but I bought Alien Isolation mostly to try to support the devs finally doing a proper Alien game. 

 

I can't get more than 60 minutes into it without wimping out though. The Alien is terrifying.

I remeber watching gameplay videos of that game. I'm really happy that they actually made a game reminiscent of the first movie, with an enemy that actually has some intelligence instead if just homing towards their target.

[Battle_Korbi]

My third time complaining, now that I have calmed down:

 

It seems like horror games have nothing new to offer to the standard formula.

 

A lot of Silent Hill clones deal with with psychological stuff, and instead of embracing the weird and being over with, the developers keep sending out things covered with human skin, or babies, or a lot of hanged people. It constantly wants to foreshadow that the protagonist is fucked, which is annoying. Also, if a folkloric monsters makes it into the fray, it is a symbol of something someone fucked up. Everything in these games is over-used, yet people still keep making indie psychological thrillers/horror games with no intention other than cashing in. I am not defending big titles either. Psychological stuff is well done in books and movies, but frankly "OH NO I WASN'T FIGHTNING GHOULS I WAS STABBING PEDESTRIANS ALL THE TIME OH NOOO" stuff is too annoying.

 

Dead SPESS and Doom 3 is fine to a extent, although relying on shocking the player over and over from falling asleep is not that fun. Yeah, there is the challenge, but where is the fun? In Doom 3 its with slower combat and atmosphere, plus lore. Dunno about Dead SPESS, but I can say cheap scares are cheap.

 

Generally a lot of "new, original horror games" are not in fact, original. Toss the player into a dark setting, give him a flashlight without batteries, and have a monster chase him like oversized bugs, demons, failed experiments, ghosts, aliens, Slenderman's relatives and co-workers, "shadows", his own clone, basically something menacing, something that often teleports 3 feet in front of you to frighten you. Goal? Reach the end or collect a object.

 

Horror games today are like those B-movies before. People make them to cash in, to try out some tricks or to experiment with before moving onto the good stuff. Basing one's entire gaming experience on these is like saying "I like sweets of all kinds!", then continue licking the same lollipop flavor you did earlier today, yesterday, day before that... Please, expand your horizons, you don't know what are you missing!

 

If I were to make a horror game, I would make a reverse psychological horror game, where you have to take care of someone who is mentally ill, incapacitated, possesed, generally fight for that person, and the real horror would rise from it turning onto you at some point. I think I would get scared but couldn't stop playing when the game makes me connect to some person, like the protagonist's daughter or father, like, have myself talk to her through the first part of the game, trying to cheer up, or tough up, or pray for that person, like, having to scare myself whenever the person I should be caring about doesn't respond the conventional way, or when I wouldn't be able to find her. The second part comes up at random, depending on your course of actions, where that person wouldn't be the same person anymore, like, whatever you two were fighting against, one of you had given up, or was forcibly taken away, and the player would have to survive a certain time period, like, eventually the little episode would end, wouldn't show up in a while again, then these episodes would come in more and more, until there is no more time limit and it is just this one infinite episode, and you have to decide is this person worth fighting for, will you run away, or would you listen and give in unto what it says. And you would get diffrent endings, and the golden ending could be reached from playthrough 1 (I hate it when games force you to replay them 20 times to unlock the real ending).

 

That is my vision of a good horror game. Where you have to take care of the monster. True horror? Responsibility.

[Voros]

A true horror game is the kind that plays on your fears. I believe horror games are more successful if the player is immersed into the game, such as using VR headsets and headphones.

 

These kind of games require your full attention (FNAF is impossible to play with being completely focused into it), and what better way than using hardware that makes the player feel like they're right there in game?

 

The horror game genre should be split up into seperate sub categories eg

• Spiders
• Darkness
• Heights
• Claustrophobia
• Clowns
• Blood
• Unknown entities
• etc

Each category should aim to exploit the fears of a common player. 

 

I recently had a dream about suddenly appearing on top of a building (some kind of university called Intuk University, it's Korean IIRC) and upon looking down, I felt weak and fell down. I could feel the wind rush around me, my blood rushing to my head, my heart pumping like there's no tomorrow. 

 

I want this exact feeling to happen when playing a horror game. Although it might be too extreme. The day such a thing happens, people might a) overcome their fears b) die from a panic attack/lack of energy/sleep/air/etc.

 

Maybe in the future, VR will become a necessity for playing horror games, and help create a bigger impact on players.

[MrGlide]

I think Horror games need to be more taxing with in game deaths. Once you know where you're checkpoints are, you can just blitz an area untill you know it well then just beat it. Nothing really scary about that to me personally. The Thing about not having a weapons or ammo, is there isn't really much to take from the player. In most games currently a "Death" is just a go back to the checkpoint deal as of right now. I think More horror games should be like Dark souls where the players Death actually means something.

[Trupiak]

 

33 minutes ago, MrGlide said:

I think Horror games need to be more taxing with in game deaths. Once you know where you're checkpoints are, you can just blitz an area untill you know it well then just beat it. Nothing really scary about that to me personally. The Thing about not having a weapons or ammo, is there isn't really much to take from the player. In most games currently a "Death" is just a go back to the checkpoint deal as of right now. I think More horror games should be like Dark souls where the players Death actually means something.

 

SO MUCH THIS. I remember playing a tactical shooter game when I was like 8 or 9 where I played as specnaz and had 4 npc's with me to command and give tasks to, the game was set in iran, deserts etc. there were enemies everywhere, hiding in bushes, in towers, in houses, behind cars ready to spray their AK's at you ( you died in one shot, 2 shots if they hit you in the legs, and being shot to the helmet didn't deal damage) every move had to be carefully planned, missions were very long and most importantly THERE WAS NO QUICKSAVING, if you died you had to start the mission over, every time I got halfway through the mission I was scared shitless because I knew I could get killed any time and I also had to take care of my teammates because you weren't rambo and actually needed them.

 

Quicksaving and frequent checkpoints ruin horror games, I think in "SCP containment breach" you couldn't save too and that was hell of a scary game. But devs let you save save the game for you every 30 seconds because ... casuals -_-

[CARRiON]

I enjoy the likes of Resident Evil or Silent Hill (Team Silent games only), Condemned was good too. The problem I have with horror runners however is they usually make no sense. Why wouldn't your character grab something to defend themselves? In Silent Hill games you play as average people, and yet they still have the common sense to grab a pipe or a 2x4 or something. Even Heather Mason from SH3, who is just an average carefree girl who loves shopping, won't hesitate to grab a handgun or a fucking uzi when she see's one. Grabbing a gun in those games can feel very securing too, because even though ammo can be rare, just having it can be a sense of relief should shit hit the fan.

 

I haven't played it yet, but Layers of Fear looks like a decent horror runner. Has anyone here played this?

 

11 hours ago, Memfis said:

Personally, I'm still trying to figure out the whole phenomenon of people watching movies or playing games with the intention of getting scared. I guess I kinda understand wanting to experience something thrilling, to test yourself and so on, but part of me is still like "WTF, these people are intentionally exposing themselves to something unpleasant and disturbing?!". I wonder how much it is a cultural thing. Like, I can't really think of any Russian horror films right now. Maybe it's because we have enough horror in our lives already. :D

When I was a child, my mother loved watching horror films, she still does to this day though not as often anymore. I remember she'd watch them when I was supposed to be sleeping, but I'd get out of bed to sneak glances at the TV, and some of the shit I saw terrified me as a kid, even made me feel ill. I remember catching glances of the Exorcist one night and what I saw kept me up for weeks. I never wanted to see those images again, and yet part of me did want to see them. I wanted to stare at them and analyze them. I kept going back to them even though I knew the end result would be sleepless nights and anxiety. I remember there was a series of books at my school called "Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark", and looking back, some of the imagery in those books is pretty shockingly grotesque for elementary school kids. Yet, the book was one of the most popular books in the school library, we fucking loved it! When someone checked it out, everyone would gather around them on snack break and read the stories and look at the morbid illustrations by Stephen Gammell. 

 

When I got into my teens, I started watching every big horror film and every cult classic I could get my hands on. I was obsessed with horror, and still am. Now it doesn't scare me like it did as a kid, I just enjoy the imagery and the themes often associated with it. Feeling scared is a very natural and human feeling, though a lot of people probably don't have a reason to feel this way unless they intentionally seek it out, just for the thrill of it. So perhaps it is a cultural thing to some degree? I recently found that book again and read through it, and now instead of horrifying me, I found the images fascinating.

[Deleted_Account]

Horror is my favorite genre, specifically when it's blended with Science Fiction whether it be literature, film, or in this case video games. I love Dead Space 1 & 2 ( a great mix of creeping horror and action), the Doom series (what a surprise!) and System Shock 2. However games like Silent Hill and Resident Evil stand out to me especially. I've never played Outlasts or FNAF, I'm aware of them but they don't appeal to me. I do really like Penumbra though. I also love Half-Life mods like They Hunger, Afraid of Monsters, Cry of Fear and Black Snow (Half-Life 2).

[Maisth]

Last horror game that i played was Resident Evil 7 i finded that the Horror system was a little bit clunky re-using the same formula as Resident evil 3 Type of tension.

 

But the gameplay was fun enough to keep me interested and the storyline (which was nothing too special) did the job for me

[Voros]

On June 19, 2017 at 0:36 AM, Trupiak said:

Quicksaving and frequent checkpoints ruin horror games, I think in "SCP containment breach" you couldn't save too and that was hell of a scary game. But devs let you save save the game for you every 30 seconds because ... casuals -_-

There's Euclid (default) mode, which only allows saving by going to those monitors, while Keter is like the UV of Doom, and doesn't allow saving other than the monitors. But it doesn't save the game every 30 seconds. That's upto the player. Frankly, given the nature of the game, quicksaving sounds like a terrible idea.



 



One day, I'll get the guts to finish my playthrough of SCP CB. It's always the red room that freaks me out. Tear gas+an open vent+timed doors=circle-sprinting challenge.



 



Basically, everything freaks me out. Even blinking.



 

Edited June 20, 2017 by Voros

[june gloom]

On 6/18/2017 at 11:00 AM, Bauul said:

I can't believe we've gotten this far into the thread and no-one has mentioned Alien Isolation!

siiiiiigh

 

 

On 6/17/2017 at 8:26 PM, dethtoll said:

Any attempt to give the player agency completely changes the game. Alien: Isolation is not just Amnesia in space; the difference between "wuss" and "wuss with a gun" is a yawning gap.

In other words, AI is not an Amnesia clone. In many ways it's more obviously an immersive sim -- hell, it's practically System Shock 3 in all but name, right down to a 451 door code gag.

[Mr. Freeze]

Doesn't make Alien: Isolation a non-horror game though. 

[june gloom]

Never said it wasn't, cupcake.

[Bauul]

@dethtoll "Amnesia clone" is a harsh description, but one we were only using for lack of a better word.

 

AI is a brilliant game, but it's clearly heavily inspired by games like Amnesia, Penumbra, and the rest. Hiding as a defenseless first-person protagonist while an unkillable monster stalks you through dark oppressive levels is the bread and butter of the genre.

[40oz]

I'm so desensitized by blood and gore and flesh that when I see it in a horror game I'm nauseated at the cliche more than the shock value its supposed to generate.

 

What was that survival horror game that's there was a thread about here where youre in hell? It was basically amnesia except with fleshwalls and caves and spikes everywhere. That was sooooo unappealing to me.

[nxGangrel]

I like horror games a lot. But I prefer games that fuck with your head instead of just causing jump scares or using gore or "shocking" imagery. I enjoy when a good horror game has atmosphere, tension, and surprises that aren't in your face, especially when something takes you off guard and you actually don't expect it. Subtly is key.

[MrGlide]

32 minutes ago, 40oz said:

What was that survival horror game that's there was a thread about here where youre in hell? It was basically amnesia except with fleshwalls and caves and spikes everywhere. That was sooooo unappealing to me.

Scorn and/or agony? On of them it looked like you got a gun, So I wouldn't say it's an amnesia clone.

[Mr. Freeze]

4 hours ago, 40oz said:

I'm so desensitized by blood and gore and flesh that when I see it in a horror game I'm nauseated at the cliche more than the shock value its supposed to generate.

 

What was that survival horror game that's there was a thread about here where youre in hell? It was basically amnesia except with fleshwalls and caves and spikes everywhere. That was sooooo unappealing to me.

 

Scorn is the HR Geiger-looking one. You're thinking of Agony. It came off to me as very American; where Hell is a place of darkness, fire and a single breast 

[june gloom]

7 hours ago, Bauul said:

@dethtoll "Amnesia clone" is a harsh description, but one we were only using for lack of a better word.

 

AI is a brilliant game, but it's clearly heavily inspired by games like Amnesia, Penumbra, and the rest. Hiding as a defenseless first-person protagonist while an unkillable monster stalks you through dark oppressive levels is the bread and butter of the genre.

Except you're not defenseless and that makes all the difference. Like I said before, if you think the difference between "wuss" and "wuss with a gun" is tiny then you really don't understand what I'm talking about.

 

Amanda has agency in Isolation: she can use the environment to her advantage, she has a number of tools to aid her, she gets her hands on a few firearms including a flamethrower, and she can construct items to damage or distract. In Amnesia clones you do not have that kind of agency: your only options are to run or hide. While you're not wrong that a lot of A:I seems inspired by Amnesia, it's also just as clearly inspired by System Shock 2, and it stands apart from Amnesia clones by allowing you some meager means of self-defense that must be carefully managed.

[Agentbromsnor]

As somebody who was suffering a lot from nightterrors as a kid, horror stuff started to appeal to me since I basically came to find out that the ideas in my own head were always scarier. To this day, it's still a challenge for me to find a game that feels like a real nightmare come true. There have been games that make a great attempt though, like Amnesia and also the first FNAF game. I know it sounds stupid to praise a FNAF game, but the first game was (besides the repetitive gameplay) pretty terrifying. Keep in mind that there was no fan-community yet and no popular theories, etc. It was just this small game that suddenly appeared on Desura.

[Chezza]

Dead by Daylight is a good Horror multiplayer game. Although it depends on your definition of Horror.

 

It gets you very tense, it is dark and changes to Terror when the Killer is on your trail. I impulsed purchased it a while back just for a quick little experience but I've been playing it quite a bit to this day.

[Maes]

On 6/17/2017 at 11:08 PM, ImpMan11203 said:

I like Doom 3 as a game, but not as a Doom game. That's the only horror game I can play, my computer is a piece of crap. I'll never forget when I walked into the bathroom in Doom 3 and looked into the mirror (if you haven't done that, then do it). I was playing it at night and alone and it scared the CRAP out of me :-D

And wait until you realize the HORRORS lurking in the toilet of DOOM.

[Kontra Kommando]

The first time in guard house section of Resident Evil, I genuinely felt a sense of terror. Though rarely have I that feeling from many games.

 

Playing Alien: Isolation with the Occulus was really terrifying. Though I couldn't see the interface well at all. That's a game that does its job too good. It really saps you of energy, after playing for an hour or two. Because of how scared you are from the impending doom of getting caught.

Edited June 21, 2017 by Kontra Kommando

[Avoozl]

I am not a huge fan of the genre but the only horror games I've played and enjoyed were Dead Space 1 and 2, FEAR with its two expansions, and FEAR 2 (which disappointed me a lot).

Edited June 21, 2017 by Avoozl

[Coopersville]

Monsters and gore are cool idk

[KVELLER]

3 hours ago, Avoozl said:

I am not a huge fan of the genre but the only horror games I've played and enjoyed were Dead Space 1 and 2, FEAR with its two expansions, and FEAR 2 (which disappointed me a lot).

FEAR never really scared me. The "scary sections" stop being tense when you realize that there isn't any actual threat.

[vinnie245]

I also prefer games with story, atmosphere and suspence over half assed jump scares so this new tidal wave of First Person defenceless Horror games does nothing for me.

RE:Remake, Silent Hill 2 and Condemned are my top 3 horror games and none of them are exactly known for too many jump scares.

Jump scares are just the cheapest way to frighten someone, a spider coming out of nowhere can make you jump doesnt mean its terrifying.

[Agentbromsnor]

When it comes to shocking images, I agree that it's not really scary, but... Isn't that kind of a big thing regarding the first Doom? I know most people don't associate Doom with a lot of horror-tropes, but the imagery was quite shocking back in the day. Yeah, it's pretty tame these days, but I remember very well that people were disturbed by the levels of gore, and depictions of torture and dead bodies everywhere. I do think that this should still be a hallmark of the series.

[YukiHerz]

I love horror games, proper horror games, not that walking simulator shit that's flooding the market, which are only there because little kids keep getting spooked from retarded animatronics and the sketchbook doodleman with tentacles of some 14yo emo.